{"id":495560,"date":"2025-06-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=495560"},"modified":"2025-06-27T05:39:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T05:39:32","slug":"california-army-guard-cavalry-unit-takes-on-federal-protection-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=495560","title":{"rendered":"California Army Guard Cavalry Unit Takes on Federal Protection Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n U.S. Army Pvt. Arnoldo Solorzano, a cavalry scout with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment, California Army National Guard, watches through his riot shield as U.S. Army Sgt. Jose Benitz, from the same unit, reviews proper positioning and movement techniques during training on riot and crowd control procedures at Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, California, on June 22, 2025. U.S. Northern Command is supporting federal agencies by providing military forces to protect federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area. On June 7, the Secretary of Defense directed USNORTHCOM to establish Task Force 51 to oversee Title 10 forces supporting this mission.
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\n Sgt. 1st Class Andres Agag, a mortar team leader with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment, California Army National Guard, pushes against the shields of other unit members while playing the role of an aggressive demonstrator during training at Joint Forces Training Base, California, on riot and crowd control techniques, June 22, 2025. U.S. Northern Command is supporting federal agencies by providing military forces to protect federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area. On June 7, the Secretary of Defense directed USNORTHCOM to establish Task Force 51 to oversee Title 10 forces supporting this mission.
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JOINT FORCES TRAINING BASE ALAMITOS, Calif. \u2013 For the Soldiers of Troop A, 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment, California Army National Guard, the past few years have been busy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2018, we started off with our Jordan deployment,\u201d said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Dylan Martinez, the troop commander. \u201cThat lasted about 10 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unit members were then called out in 2020 to respond to civil unrest in the aftermath of George Floyd\u2019s death. The following year, they responded to wildfires near South Lake Tahoe, California, and then deployed to Kuwait for approximately a year.<\/p>\n

Once they returned, they were called out again to respond to wildfires and other events while continuing their normal training schedule. Earlier this year, they responded to the Palisades and Altadena wildfires that scorched the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were out there for about two months to protect buildings and property,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Now the unit is back in LA as part of the 4,000 National Guard troops on duty to protect federal buildings and property as part of the Federal Protection Mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like it,\u201d said U.S. Army Sgt. Carlos Moya, a team leader with the unit, of the busy operational tempo. \u201cI mean, who wants to stay home and not do anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

For the cavalry Soldiers, the call to respond to events in LA came while they were preparing for upcoming gunnery training.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the way home of our second day of drill, we got the texts that we\u2019re being activated,\u201d said Spc. Marcos Islas, a Soldier with the unit. \u201cFrom there, we went back to our armory in Azusa, [California], to set up all our trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unit was first sent to bolster security at the federal building in Paramount, California. After four days there, they shifted to Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, just outside of LA, to await follow-on missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re staged in Los Alamitos to wait to be called to protect federal buildings and federal property,\u201d Islas said.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, that means continued training on crowd management and riot response techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we were focused on any violent protesters that may come our way, how to protect ourselves,\u201d Islas said. \u201cIf they try to break through our security, we would have to detain them and then give them over law enforcement. But hopefully that doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most importantly, Martinez said, the training also included de-escalation efforts and techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to help protect, to make sure that we calm everything down,\u201d he said, adding that the overall training also helps ensure Soldiers know how to respond in situations that may quickly change.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to protect federal property and personnel who are performing federal functions and to make sure that if any of these guys see what we may have displayed to them [in training], that they react the right way,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

The deployments and high operational tempo also have helped prepare the unit\u2019s Soldiers for the LA mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they come out here, they\u2019re mentally and physically prepared for what may come,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Those deployments also have helped build unit readiness and cohesion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very tight unit, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true among the unit\u2019s noncommissioned officers and junior Soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy troop – Alpha Troop, 1-18th Cav – has a lot of good NCOs that look out for their Soldiers,\u201d Islas said. \u201cThat, you know, makes our mission a lot easier to do with their help.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Moya, who was recently promoted to sergeant, the LA mission is one of his first in a leadership role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an NCO now, a new NCO,\u201d he said. \u201cI get to get hands on and develop that leadership skill with new Soldiers and other NCOs.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no other unit he\u2019d rather be with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like my unit,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot with my unit. A lot of good events, positive events \u2013 deployments, activations, trainings. I feel like we\u2019ve done a lot, and I\u2019ve been in at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Title 10 support to Department of Homeland Security<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nationalguard.mil<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/USNationalGuard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 U.S. Army Pvt. Arnoldo Solorzano, a cavalry scout with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 18th Cavalry Regiment, California Army National Guard, watches through his riot shield as U.S. Army Sgt. Jose Benitz, from the same unit, reviews proper positioning and movement techniques during training on riot and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495562,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-495560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=495560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495565,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495560\/revisions\/495565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/495562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=495560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=495560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=495560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}